Talking machine



Dec. 2, 1952 T. F. VAIDA ET AL.

TALKING MACHINE Filed March so, 1949 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Patented Dec. 2, 1952 PATENT @FFHCE TALKING MACHINE Theodore F. Vaida and George J. Vaida, High Bridge, N. J.

Application March 30, 1949, Serial No. 84,418

13 Claims. (Cl. 74-200) This invention relates to talking machines and more particularly to a device whereby long playing talking machine records, which require different turntable rotational speeds than conventional records, as well as conventional records, may be played on the standard type of record player. 7

Standard types of record players have a turntable which rotates at about 77 to 78 R. P. M. These record players are designed to properly reproduce the recorded sounds on conventional talking machine records. Latterly, new types of records, called long playing records have appeared on the market. They have the advantage of reproducing a longer piece of music on a fewer number of record sides so as to reduce the amount of record changing required in order to play an entire piece. These new types of records require difierent turntable speeds than conventional records, and also require different turntable speeds each from the other. For example, two of the new records require turntable speeds of 45 R. P. M. and 33 /3 R. P. M., respectively.

Thus, in order to be able to play all of these three types of records, one must have a record player adapted to give turntable speeds of 33 R. P. M., 45 R. P. M., and '77 to '78 R. P. M.

It is an object of this invention to provide such a device that will permit different turntable speeds, for example of 33 R. P. M., 45 R. P. M., and 77 to 78 R. P. M., when mounted upon the conventional record player.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a device that may be easily and permanently affixed by anyone of ordinary skill to the conventional record player.

It is a further object to provide such a device whereby selection of the required turntable speeds may be made by simple, rapid, manual adjustments.

It is a further object to provide such a device that will be sufficiently compact so as not to interfere with the normal operation of most of the standard types of record changers which are supplied with conventional record players.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description of the structure and operation thereof, and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate as an example, and not as a limitation, one embodiment of the invention. In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device with parts broken away to show the driving means;

Fig. 2 is across sectional View taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1..

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a reverse plan section taken along the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Structure Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the base plate I I, consists of a flat disk I2 having a lower flange I3, around its periphery, and having a circular hole I4 in its center and a circular recess I5 at the center of its upper surface. The base plate I I is adapted to be secured to a record player turntable for rotation therewith, as by a plurality of thumb screws I6 threaded, at appropriate intervals, through the lower flange I3, so as to frictionally engage the edge of said turntable, when properly adjusted.

On the upper face of base plate I I, and integral therewith, is an annular driving ring H, the function of which will be later explained. Centrally mounted on base plate I I and pressed into the recess I5 is a hollow center, double bearing I8 which rotatably supports the record supporting assembly I9 and the driving assembly 20, on its inner and outer races, respectively. The driving assembly 20 is positioned between the base plate I I and the record supporting assembly I9.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the record supporting assembly I9 consists of a flat disk 2| having a lower flange 22, the inside rim of which may be provided with a rim 22a of rubber or other like material around its periphery. Said record supporting assembly is provided with a circular recess 23 at the center of its upper surface, and a second circular recess 24 at the center of its lower surface and a bore hole 25 through the center of said assembly. The upper surface of the record supporting assembly I9 may be covered with felt (not shown), or a like material, so that a record may be placed thereon and retained in position when the assembly is rotated. A bushing 26 is pressed in the circular recess. and rides upon the inner race of bearing I8, which thereby rotatably supports record supporting assembly I9.

As can best be seen in Figs. 1 and 2 the driving assembly 29 consists of certain elements, which will be later described, in combination with an irregular shaped support 21, which for convenience of description will be considered as being composed of three parts, it being understood that all three are integral with each other.

At the right. hand portion. of Figs. 1 and 2-is a flat part 28 of support 21., Said part 28 has a 3 cylindrical opening 29 through its length, slidable longitudinally in opening 29 is rod 30, with a knob 3| at its right extremity covered with rubber or other friction material. Said rod and knob comprise a movable extension 32 ,of support 21. Movable extension 32 may be pushed into opening 29, until the edge of knob 3| engages the edges of flanges l3 and 22, as shown by the dotted line position in Figs. 1 and 2, or it may be pulled out until it engages stop 33, as shown in the solid line position in Figs. 1 and 2. Stop 33 may be aiflxed to the base of the record player, or to the tone arm, or to any other non-rotating part of the rec-- rd player.

Shown at the center of Figs. land 2' is a circular part 34 of support 21. As can best be seen at 35 in Fig. 2 the flat part 28 is at a lower elevation than the circular part 34. The flat underside of circular part 34 is secured to the outer race 18a.

of bearing 18.

The center portion of circular part 34 is provided with an opening so as topermit bushing 26 to. project downward therethrough, and thus to be secured to the inner race l 8b-rof' bearing l8, and also to permit the turntable pin- (not shown) to project upward through the device;

Shown at the left portion of Figs. 1 and 2, is a lozenge; shaped part 3.5 of support Z 'I-integrally joinedzwith. circular piece 3.4; As shown inFig. 1, rotatably mounted on-the upper portion of part 36 as'that part: is positioned in Fig. 1, is aset of wheels 3.1:v Rotatably mounted on the lower portion of part 36..is.a secondset of wheels 38, and mountedat theleft extremity. of part. 36-..is toggle assembly 39.

As can best be seen in Fig. 3, set of wheels 31 comprises a. lower wheel 40, which maybe provided with a rim 40a of rubber or other like material, all of'which types-of rim material are hereinafterreferred to as rubberrims, and an upper wheel 4 l" having a rubber rim 4la, andaffixed to a'common-shaft 42whichpasses through part 36 of support. 2-1; Shaft 42 is rotatably mounted on saidsupport by bushing 43-; Lower wheel 40 is in contact w-ith 1 annulardriving ring I 1 As" can best be seen in Fig. 2, set of wheels 38 comprises alower wheel 44 having a rubber rim 44a and an upper wheel-45 having a rubber rim 45a, and affixed to a common shaft 46- which passes through part 36 0f support 21. Shaft 46 is-rotatably mountedon said support by bushing 41; which is affixed to part 36: Lowerwheel. 44 isincontact with annular driving ring ll.

As can best-be seen-in Figs. 4 and 5, toggle=as sembly-39 consists-of a manually controllable lever 48' movable between extendingears 4-9and Ell-of part '36 of support-2 'l', toeither of i the two positions shown in Figs. Land-5, and pivotally mounted on part 36 by=pin 5| and washer. 52-. Positioned above part-36; as-seenin Fig. 4, is driven wheel 53 having a rubber rim.53a whichis r0,- tatably-mountedonshaft 54 and bushing- 54a. As seen in Fig. 4, shaft 54- extends downward through aperture 55 -in part 36, and is rigidly affixedto lever to the-rightof pin-5 I. Rotatably afiixed to the right extremity of lever 48. byi pin 56 is aspring-loaded, snap-over switch, 51, the springthereof beingcompressed. The right end of-switch 51 is rotatably affixed toipart 3.6 by pin 58 Wheel 53 is-indriving relation to flange 22 of the record supporting-assembly 13in either. position of lever 48. It ispositioned to bedriven bywheel 4:! .inone positionof the. lever and by wheel 45 inrthe other position of thellever.

4 Operation The assembled device may be installed on a conventional record player by placing it on top of the turntable, with the base plate I I of the device resting on the turntable. The turntable centering pin will project through the center of the device, and above the upper surface of the record supporting assembly 19, and so. be in position to perform its'usual function-of centering the records.

The device is aifixed to the turntable and centered thereon by adjusting the thumb screws I6, which are mounted in lower flange l3, against the edge of the turntable.

In order to play a conventional 77-78 R. P. M. record, the device is left in its attached position on the turntable, the movable extension 32 is pushed in until the rubber covered knob 3| thereof frictionally engages the flanges I3 and 22 of the record supportingassembly and the base plate respectively, and thereby effectively locks these last two together. Thus when the turntable rotates at 77-78 R. P. M-., as it isset to do, the entire device, including the record supporting assembly will be rotated=at the same speed, ancl a conventional record may be played thereon.

In order to play one of the two types of'long playing records, the movable extension 32 is pulled out until it engages the fixed stop- 33, lever 431s then manually operated to select either one of the two required speeds. When the turntable rotates at its normal speed, inthe present embodiment of this invention, the record supporting assembly [9. will rotate at a speed of either 33%; R. P. M. or 45 R. P. M. depending'on the position of lever 48, and the proper rotational speeds for long playing records are thus available. Inorder toplay a long playing record it is also necessary that the tone arm weight, transmitted to the record Surface through the needle, beless than when the tone arm is used withconventional records. To achieve this the tone arm is provided with a shiftable counterweight aflixed theretoinotshown) whereby the eifective pressure of said tone arm may be varied.

When movable extension 32 is pulledout until it engages fixed stop 33'-as above'descri-bed, driv-- ing assembly 2!, of whichextension32 is--a-part, is held in a fixed position, while the-remainderof the deviceiis freeto be rotated by the operation of theturntable.

As the turntable rotates it rotates thebase plate I 1 in the same-direction, for example clockwise. Ase-an best be seen in Figs. 1 and-5,- and annular driving ring I! thusrotates at the-same angular velocity as the turntable, but at a difierent peripheral velocity. The lower wheels 4| and 44 of sets of wheels 37 and 38, respectively, which are a part of driving assembly 20, frictionally'en gage the annular driving ring I! and are rotated by itin the opposite direction from the base plate H andthe turntable. As low-er wheels and 44 are ofdifierent dimensions, upp-er wheels 4| and- 45 of thetwo setsof wheels-arethereby drivenat different peripheral speeds:

Lever. 48' of. toggle assembly. 3.9: mustibezmanually moved tooneof the two possible. positions, indicated? in Figs. 1 and 5. The' spring-loaded snap-over switch 57 of lever48 assuresthat-the lever is in either one otthe'tw-o possible positions. As the lever is manually moved, driven wheel iii is moved either to the solid line position-or to the dotted line position. shown in Fig. 5;v At either of these positions the driven wheel is pressed, by the action of the spring-loaded snap-overs-Witch,

against either upper wheel 4| or '45 and also against the inside of flange 22 of record supporting assembly l9.

Thus, as the annular driving ring rotates, it

drives lower wheels 40 and 44, and thus drives upper wheels 4| and 45.- Driven wheel 53 which is in contact with one or the other of upper wheels 4| and 65, and is also in contact with flange 22 of record supporting assembly It, thus drives record supporting assembly It in the opposite direction from the sets of wheels 31 and 38 and in the same direction as the base plate H and the turntable.

. In the present embodiment of the invention, when the record player turntable is rotating at 78 R. P. M., the proportions of the parts are such that the combination of the peripheral speeds of annular driving ring lower wheel 44, upper wheel 45, and driven wheel 53 drives the record supporting assembly I9 at a speed of 33 R. P. M. when lever 48 is in the dotted line position as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and the proportions of the parts are such that the combination of the peripheral speeds of annular driving ring I1, lower wheel 49, upper wheel 4|, and driven wheel 53 drives the record supporting assembly l9 at a speed of R. P. M. when lever 48 is in the solid line position as shown in Figs. 1 and 5.

Thus by simple manual adjustment of either lever 48 and/or movable extension 32 any one of the three required rotational speeds may be obtained.

We have thus described one embodiment of our invention and illustrated its use and it will be apparent therefrom that the device hereinbefore claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination of a first member adapted to be mounted on a record player turnable for rotation therewith, a record supporting member rotatably mounted on said first member, driving means for rotating said record supporting member in the same direction but at a plurality of predetermined speeds with respect to said first member, and means whereby said record supporting member may be rotated at the same speed as said first member.

2. The combination of a first member adapted to be mounted on a record player turntable for rotation therewith, a record supporting member rotatably mounted on said first member, said first member having an annular driving ring, and a plurality of wheels selectively engaging said driving ring, and adapted to rotate said record supporting member at different predetermined speeds with respect to said first member.

3. The combination of claim 2, including means whereby said first member and said record supporting member may be clutched together to rotate at the same speed.

4. The combination of a first member having an annular driving ring, and adapted to be mounted on a record player turntable for rotation therewith, a record supporting member having an annular ring and rotatably mounted on said first member, a third member rotatably mounted between said first member and said record supporting member, and provided with an extension adapted to engage a stop mounted on said record player whereby said third member may be held in a fixed position during rotation of said first named member and said record supporting member, said third member having two sets of wheels rotatably mounted thereon, each set consisting of two wheels mounted on a common shaft and rotating therewith, one wheel of each set of wheels frictionally engaging said annular driving ring and being driven by it, the other wheel of each set of wheels rotating at different predetermined peripheral speeds, said other wheels being adapted to be frictionally engaged by a driven wheel, a toggle switch connected to said driven wheel, said toggle switch being manually adjustable to one of two possible positions, said driven wheel also engaging the annular ring of said record supporting member when said toggle switch is at one of its two possible positions, whereby said driven wheel is also in contact with either of said other wheels, and thereby rotating said record supporting member at one of two difierent rotational speeds with respect to said first member.

5. The combination of claim 4, wherein said third member is provided with a movable extension ,adapted to be manually moved into or out of engagement with said stop, said extension being provided with a clutch operable when said extension is out of engagement with said stop to frictionally engage with said first member and said record supporting member and cause them to be rotated at the same speed.

6. The combination of a first member adapted to be secured to a record player turntable for rotation therewith, a fiat record supporting member rotatably mounted on said first member, and a driving mechanism operatively connected between said first member and said supporting member for rotating said record supporting member at difierent speeds with respect to said firstnamed member and including means for manually setting said driving mechanism to rotate said record supporting member at either of two different speeds with respect to said first named member, said driving mechanism including a plurality of wheels driven by said first named member and a third wheel for selectively driving the turntable from one of said first named wheels.

7. The combination of claim 6 in which the setting mechanism includes a manually operable toggle switch.

8. The combination of a first member adapted to be mounted on a record player turntable for rotation therewith, a record supporting member rotatably supported on said first member, said first member having an annular driving ring, a wheel engaging said ring and driven thereby, a second wheel coaxially connected to said firstnamed wheel, a third wheel engaging and driven by said second-named wheel, a support for said wheels, and means for holding said support in fixed position, said third wheel engaging said record supporting member to rotate the same in the same direction as the first named member.

9. The combination of a first member adapted to be mounted on a record player turntable for rotation therewith, a record supporting member rotatably supported on said first member, said first member having an annular driving ring, a wheel engaging said ring and driven thereby, a second wheel coaxially connected to said firstnamed wheel, a third wheel engaging and driven by said: second-named wheel, a support, for said wheels; means for holding: said support in fixed position, said thirdwheel engaging saidrecord supporting member to rotate the same inthe same direction as the first member, and means iorreleasing said holding, means and clutching said first member andv said record supporting member together for rotation atthe; same speed.

10; The combination of a first member. adapted to be mounted on a record player turntable". for rotation therewith,- a recordsupporting member rotatably mounted'on said first" member, said first member having: an annular driving ring and iwo sets of wheelsfrictionally engaging: said driving ring andhaving upper and lower. wheels-,the upper-wheels ofthe sets ofswheels rotating at different predetermined peripheral speeds, a driven wheel, a movable mountingfor said driven wheel whereby said upper wheels are adapted tobe selectively engaged by said drivenwheel todrive the. latter, saiddriven wheel also engaging said record supporting member to rotate the same when said wheel is in contact. with either ofsaid upper wheels, and thereby rotating said record supporting member atone of two different speeds with respect to said first member.

11. The combination of claim 10, including a clutch whereby said firstmember and said record supporting member: may be. secured togetherv to rotate; at; the samespeed.

12. The combination of aifirst member having anannular driving ring and adapted. to be mounted on a record. player turntable for rotation therewith, a record supporting memberhaving an annular ring and rotatably mounted on said first member, a third member rotatably mounted between said first member. andsaid record supporting member, and provided with an extension adapted to engage a stop mounted on said record player whereby saidlthird member may beheld in a fixed position during rotation of saidifirst memben and'isaidi' record; supporting member, said: third member having; two sets of wheels, each set consisting of twowheelstmount'e ed. on; a. rotatable common shaft, onewhee]; of eacl r set of: wheels frictionally engaging; said annular driving ring. and being. drivenbyit; the other. wheel: of the sets of wheels rotating; at difierentpredetermined:peripheral speeds, aidriven. wheel, a movable mounting: for: said, driven wheel whereby said other wheels are adapted; to be selectively friotionally engaged by said driven wheel, said driven wheell also engaging the an, nular ring of said record supporting: member when: said driven wheel is. 1111 contact 1 with either of said: other wheels, and": therebyxrotating: said recordzsllpporting member at one of two difierent speeds withlrespectto said. first: member.

13:1The combination oficlaim 12,. whereinlsaid third member is provided with a movable extension. adapted to; be positioned in or outv of engagement with: said stop said extension being provided: with av clutch: operable when said' ex tension is out: of: engagement with: said: stop; to frictionally engage said. first member. andsaid record .zsupporting member and cause; them to; be rotated at the same speed.

THEODORE VAIDA; GEORGE t-I. VAIDA.

REEERENfiES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED' STATES PATENTS Number Name Date;

1,035;r Clark Aug: 13, 1912 l,852;4'5:6i Eritz: Apr: 5; 1932 2;L63,=0.66 Searcy June 20-; 1939 2,353,376.v Sears: July 11, I944, 2,469,6531 Kopp M'ay'l0, I949 

